1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a vehicle lamp such as a front turn signal lamp, and, more particularly, to a vehicle lamp with lower contrast and improved appearance.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, a vehicle lamp adapted to emit a colored light beam has a colored lens. On the other hand, a front turn signal lamp or the like emits a colored light beam as follows: a colored (for example, amber) transparent cap is attached to the reflector so that the light bulb is covered, while the lens is colorless and transparent. In this case, the vehicle lamp appears deep and glittering, and the lamp's appearance is improved when it is off.
However, in the above-described conventional vehicle lamp with the colored, transparent cap, the cap and the reflector's reflecting surface (which shines white) have high contrast. Hence, the vehicle lamp is disadvantageous in that, when turned on, the vehicle lamp is not sufficiently attractive in appearance.
On the other hand, if the light bulb is colored, the resultant colored vehicle lamp lens is smaller than a vehicle lamp with a colored, transparent cap. The "colored light bulb" means a light bulb in which a transparent color is on a glass portion of the light bulb so that the light bulb emits the desired color. Therefore, the colored lens using a colored light bulb looks unattractive in appearance. This difficulty cannot be eliminated in that the colored bulb and the reflector's reflecting surface shine with high contrast.
In recent vehicle lamps, there is a tendency to use a lens that is transparent or substantially transparent in order to make the vehicle lamp appear deeper and more glittering. However, in this case, the colored bulb is visible in its entirety or substantially in its entirety. Hence, the difficulty with high contrast is even more significant.